Tag: scam jobs

Is It Too Good To Be True?

So you’re browsing the job boards and an advert catches your eye. It’s got fantastic pay, work from home and it’s work you’re already doing! This sounds almost too good to be true, right?

As you read the advert a bit more carefully, you might spot a few things that just don’t add up; maybe it’s some typos or the reply-to email address.

There are hundreds of job scams posted on the internet every week, maybe even thousands! Today, we’re going to talk about how to spot these and make sure you don’t fall victim to them, let’s go:

No Experience Needed – Right off the bat, if the advert you’re looking at says “no experience needed, even if you’re a recent graduate”, then alarm bells should be going off in your head.

They might also try to lure you in by offering large salaries, bonuses, training and instant job offers.

If the advert is insisting that anyone can do the job, then you should be treading carefully.

You Need To Give THEM Money – So you’ve applied and received an email back saying “we need you to put £500 into this bank account for expenses and certificates”, this is when you should delete and block this ’employer’ completely. A real employer would never ask for your bank details, money or personal information up front.

Their Communications – Received an email from davidjon3s@yahoo.co.uk? It’s most likely a spoof address. Take a closer look at the way they spell their company names and website (e.g. Pay pal instead of PayPal).

As previously mentioned, re-read the job advert and scan it closely for spelling mistakes, scammers usually post adverts with very poorly written English.

SMS Interview – Skype and telephone interviews have become an incredibly common and effective way for recruiters to conduct interviews these days. If a recruiter has contacted you and wants to interview you via SMS (text messaging) or by via an IM service like Facebook, then that might be enough to prove that this is a scam.

What’s The Time Mr Scammer? – Take note of when this ‘recruiter’ contacts you. If you find yourself receiving emails and calls at 3am, then approach with caution. Generally, emails and calls will almost always be during normal business hours.

Research – Google the company or the contact name to see what you can dig up on them. Check their website (if one is available) and the contact information (again, if it’s available). Compare these details with the ones in their emails and Google Local / Maps results

If you’re struggling to find them, then I would highly recommend trying some of the Google Search Operators; if you can’t find them using these, then you’re never going to find them!

Try stitching a sentence together like “*Example Name*” AND “*Example Company*”, placing those quotation marks around the words tells Google to search exactly this word or phrase. The ‘AND’ will include both results within a close proximity of each other.

The consequences of falling for these scammers tricks and cons can be very severe, don’t fall victim to them.

Hopefully, you’re now a job scams spotting superhero and will be able to keep yourself safe when conducting a job search.